LoL

LPL Spring Week 5: Invictus Gaming regain the lead

Invictus Gaming retook the top spot in Week 5 of the LPL, winning all three series including a pivotal reverse sweep against heavyweights Royal Never Give Up.

Vici Gaming had a perfect week too, breaking eStar’s five-match win streak. The young eStar squad fell to Royal Never Give Up later in the week, sliding into second place.

Week 5 results

LNG Esports 1 – 2 Vici Gaming

FunPlus Phoenix 2 – 0 Victory Five

Suning 1 – 2 JD Gaming

LGD Gaming 1 – 2 Edward Gaming

Invictus Gaming 2 – 0 Oh My God

LNG Esports 0 – 2 Dominus Esports

Vici Gaming 2 – 1 eStar

Royal Never Give Up 2 – 0 Victory Five

LGD Gaming 2 – 1 Team WE

Rogue Warriors 2 – 0 Bilibili Gaming

Top Esports 2 – 1 Suning

Edward Gaming 2 – 0 Dominus Esports

Invictus Gaming 2 – 0 Victory Five

Royal Never Give Up 2 – 0 eStar

JD Gaming 2 – 0 LNG Esports

Bilibili Gaming 1 – 2 Edward Gaming

Invictus Gaming 2 – 1 Royal Never Give Up

Match of the week: Royal Never Give Up vs Invictus Gaming

In a clash of titans, this highly competitive series gave us everything we could ask for in an LPL match.

RNG kicked off game one with a wombo combo draft comprising Ornn, Rek’sai, Rumble, Miss Fortune and Rakan. Together, they had all the tools to set up for their AP and AD carries.

Not to be outdone, iG also put together a strong team fighting line up with Varus, Jarvan and Orianna in the mix.

With two 5v5 team compositions colliding on the Rift, game one went back and forth as both teams exchanged blows. By the late game, the difference between victory and defeat boiled down to just a single team fight.

At the 37-minute mark, RNG found their moment. When Kang “TheShy” Seung-lok stepped forward to steal Rumble’s ultimate, Li “XLB” Xiao-Long’s Rek’sai flashed to knock him up. Li “Xiaohu” Yuan-Hao on Rumble followed up immediately with Equalizer, flashing to finish off the job.

Finding themselves in a 4v5, iG fell to a well-executed combo by RNG who easily demolished their base at the end of the crazy 42-kill game.

Game one in the books!

RNG prove themselves the superior teamfighters in a 42 kill blood bath. This is a series you do not want to miss! pic.twitter.com/YtUHuQG5rS

Unnerved, the 2018 World Champions took an astonishing risk in game two. Again on red side, iG left their last pick for TheShy – and locked in Vayne.

Against Xie “Langx” Zhen-Ying’s Mordekaiser, TheShy expectedly took the CS lead in lane. Top turned into an island, as RNG reaped benefits on other parts of the map. They out rotated iG to find picks through mid and bot, grabbing five kills and an early gold lead.

In that same moment, TheShy responded to RNG’s deep invasion by teleporting into three members. Working with his team, he burned Flash to create space and buy time.

A splendid Dragon’s Rage by Lu “Leyan” Jue prevented RNG from running away, securing four kills for his team to even up the gold.

Going into mid game, both teams played macro more than micro. TheShy pressured side lanes, matching Mordekaiser, while RNG took towers, and even Baron.

Even though RNG’s 5v5 was stronger, iG put their foot down at 27 minutes. After surviving Rumble’s and Miss Fortune’s ultimates with Redemption, they completely turned the fight around.

Abusing RNG’s cooldowns, TheShy moved to the front line as Vayne. With some felicitous positioning, he got free hits off their carries, ending the brawl and the game with a quadra kill.

iG came online collectively in game three, dictating the pace from the get-go. Once they obtained a gold lead, they never let go. It didn’t matter that RNG drafted the same AP and AD carries anymore because iG seemed to better know how to play around their AoEs.

Debuting his first game of Trundle this season, Leyan contributed to iG’s win with an 80% kill participation. Opting for Press the Attack keystone, he matched XLB and worked well with his team to secure objectives and the series.

Player of the week: Wang “Hope” Jie

When Edward Gaming were one game down against LGD Gaming, it was Wang “Hope” Jie who kept their hopes alive in game two.

LGD were looking for the 2-0 sweep, and went ham with Pantheon mid leading the charge. Even though his teammates kept getting picked off, Hope continued to farm up on Kai’sa and positioned well in every team fight.

While LGD thought they had caught him out in the mid lane, a perfectly timed cleanse, stopwatch and Killer Instinct got him out of a dangerous situation.

EDG finally tipped the scales nearing 30 minutes into the game. Their front to back team composition allowed Hope to shine, going deathless with a score of 10/0/5.

After earning a second MVP in EDG’s victorious week against Dominus Esports, Hope was featured in LPL’s best of the Rift.

The young 19-year-old previously split his time between EDG’s academy team in the LDL and as a substitute on the main roster. Standing in the shadow of Hu “iBoy” Xian-Zhao last season, 2020 looks like Hope’s year to shine.